My hope for the Stanley Cup finals

[30ranfordfan]

Pretty much throughout history (at least as long as I can remember) how the game is called during the regular season, and how it's called during the playoffs, changes dramatically. Suddenly it's "let the players play" (unless they want to use speed & skill) and refs "don't want to decide the outcome of a game" (I guess allowing interference, hooking, etc doesn't decide anything).

I'll be quite frank: I don't blame the refs for this. Not at all. They're doing the job they've been told to do.

What do I hope for? Regardless of who gets to the finals, this is what I want to see happen.....

I want 6 games of back & forth hockey. Players playing with guts. Neither team backing down. I want to see the stars scoring goals, and we get to a 3-3 tie in the series.

I want to see the visiting team in Game 7 desperately trying to hang onto a 2-1 lead, and the home team tie it up late, with the goalie pulled.

Once overtime hits, I want what appears to be a glorious scoring chance by the star player of the home team to be nullified by some plugger that grabs ahold of him, and no penalty to be called. Then I want to see the home team take a penalty for accidently flipping the puck over the glass in their own end, and LOSE on the ensuing powerplay.

Why? It's the only penalty that the refs can't simply "let go". No matter the player's intent, if he puts it over the glass in his own end, he goes to the box. There is no interpretation.

I want to see the NHL's farce of a rule book put on full display, and hopefully embarrass the league into doing something about it.

I can dream, right?

[Rraincock]

*cough* McDavid was scoreless through 3 *cough*

I felt like I was watching good old 90’s hockey with all the clutching and grabbing. I agree… just as long as it is Winnipeg in the final as the visiting team ;-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[30ranfordfan]

*cough* McDavid was scoreless through 3 *cough*

I felt like I was watching good old 90’s hockey with all the clutching and grabbing. I agree… just as long as it is Winnipeg in the final as the visiting team ;-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

McDavid is going to have to learn how to play through it. The NHL doesn't want its best players to score in the playoffs (not unless they get dirty doing it). This has been going on forever, and it's not going to change anytime soon (I don't think). Other stars have learned to play through it in the past, so really he has to as well.


One stat I read today: McDavid played 1,182 shifts during the regular season, and drew 29 penalties..... about 2.5 per 100 shifts. In the playoffs he played 121 shifts, and drew exactly zero penalties. Just based on the same numbers, you'd think he'd draw 2 or 3. It's possible that Winnipeg simply played a cleaner, less obstructive game than most teams do during the regular season - but we all know they did not. It was the opposite. They grabbed, clutched, hooked, and held him back far more than they would in the regular season - because the refs won't call any of that, so long as you don't knock him down (and even then, they try not to).

Of course he drew exactly zero penalties against Chicago last year, so this is nothing new for him.

[icefields]

perhaps the answer to this situation is that the star players should speak out about it.
how else does a bottom team sweep a top finishing team in a seven game series . i am not talking edm/wpg.
maybe the bottom team could eek out one victory but not 4 out of seven. they didnt suddenly get good. they were in the bottom bunch for a reason.
but when you allow weaker teams to foul the better team continuously thru a series ... it can happen and it's just not right.
either allow it all year or disallow it all year.
what really bugs me is if a player gets his stick vertical and appears to touch another players gloves - 2 minutes.
but guys like Weber can cross check players in the back of the shoulders/heads all night and get away with it. especially after the whistle.
just stupid. and it shows that the NHL is a bush league.
4th liners do not sell a sport. the top end payers do and to hinder/prevent them using their skills doesnt seem the best way to go

[30ranfordfan]

perhaps the answer to this situation is that the star players should speak out about it.

Because most of them won't say a word, other than reiterating the need for everyone on the team to give 110%, at both ends of the ice, for a full 60 minutes. They've been trained to be robots when they speak. If McDavid (or another star) would call the NHL out for being a bush league.... he'd be labeled Chloe McCryer, and would no longer be a good Canadian Kid.

how else does a bottom team sweep a top finishing team in a seven game series . i am not talking edm/wpg.

Obviously a large part of my frustration is the EDM / WPG series, but it's not exclusive to just this series, and I've hated this side of the of the NHL forever. How do you own a team in the regular season (7-2 record) including 6 straight wins, and more were lopsided than not....... and then lose in 4 straight? (even if they were 4 straight close games)

maybe the bottom team could eek out one victory but not 4 out of seven. they didnt suddenly get good. they were in the bottom bunch for a reason.
but when you allow weaker teams to foul the better team continuously thru a series ... it can happen and it's just not right.

Nobody in Edmonton should have expected to win the series 4-0, but you're bang on. Did Edmonton suddenly get worse? Did Winnipeg suddenly get better? Or did the rules change - so things that would normally result in a parade to the penalty box, no longer do?

either allow it all year or disallow it all year.

Yes! Exactly. Call the game the same way. If this brand of hockey is what the NHL wants, fine. Then call it like that all year.

what really bugs me is if a player gets his stick vertical and appears to touch another players gloves - 2 minutes.
but guys like Weber can cross check players in the back of the shoulders/heads all night and get away with it. especially after the whistle.
just stupid. and it shows that the NHL is a bush league.

If you go into the crease (which there is no rule against) then you're subject to cross checks. I agree. Why some stick infractions get called, and others are consistently ignored, it makes no sense.

4th liners do not sell a sport. the top end payers do and to hinder/prevent them using their skills doesnt seem the best way to go

I don't want to see the stars get any kind of free pass, but I'm like you: I'm sick and tired of rules being thrown out the window, to let fringe NHLers suddenly make themselves relevant. If you lack the skill to stop another player, within the rules of hockey, then you should go to the box for two minutes and feel shame.

[RGM81]

"Puck over glass" at some point is going to become the next "Brett Hull's baby toe was in the crease" - it was absolutely comical that the Maple Leafs had THREE of them in Game 1 (on home ice!) and only slightly moreso that the Habs couldn't convert on any of those gift-wrapped opportunities.

You feel bad for the players; rarely is it anything close to intentional, and when you factor in all the "discretionary" calls that don't get made, it can be a very bitter pill to swallow.

[30ranfordfan]

"Puck over glass" at some point is going to become the next "Brett Hull's baby toe was in the crease" - it was absolutely comical that the Maple Leafs had THREE of them in Game 1 (on home ice!) and only slightly moreso that the Habs couldn't convert on any of those gift-wrapped opportunities.

You feel bad for the players; rarely is it anything close to intentional, and when you factor in all the "discretionary" calls that don't get made, it can be a very bitter pill to swallow.

That's exactly my point, and why I want to see a sequence similar to what I laid out.... even if it's not in the finals.

Someone is going to lose an OT game, because of a powerplay that came off the puck flip rule. I just really want some OBVIOUS missed call to happen (the other way) moments before, and really highlight how badly the rules are called this time of year.

[RGM81]

That's exactly my point, and why I want to see a sequence similar to what I laid out.... even if it's not in the finals.

Someone is going to lose an OT game, because of a powerplay that came off the puck flip rule. I just really want some OBVIOUS missed call to happen (the other way) moments before, and really highlight how badly the rules are called this time of year.

That is kind of the running joke out there - once a game gets to overtime you have to do something really heinous like break a guy's wrist with a slash or put the puck into the crowd to get a penalty. And even then they'd strongly consider giving the guy with a broken wrist an embellishment call to even it up.

[30ranfordfan]

That is kind of the running joke out there - once a game gets to overtime you have to do something really heinous like break a guy's wrist with a slash or put the puck into the crowd to get a penalty. And even then they'd strongly consider giving the guy with a broken wrist an embellishment call to even it up.

Yeah, and I just don't understand it. The refs don't want to decide the game. I get that... nobody is tuning in to watch them make calls. Problem is, by letting everything go, they ARE deciding the outcome of the game. They allowing a game to happen, where the best players can't put their full skill set on display.

I started this thread, with my hope, because what I really want to see is the NHL be embarrassed. Have that obvious non-call, and then a puck flip cause a powerplay the other way, and that ends the game. Your Brett Hull comment was pretty spot on though. Truth is, it wouldn't embarrass the league into calling the game correctly: They'd simply do away with the puck flip rule.

[RGM81]

The only worse scenarios I can conjure for the off-ice officials to impact the game would be some sort of goalie interference and/or offside review that is just mind-blowing to all parties involved.

It has gotten so out of hand with these offside challenges. The obvious ones that they get wrong on the ice, yes, those have to be examined and overturned. But so many of these that we see are the borderline "was his skate totally over the blue line or is there still 1% there" and coaches are (because they're relying on their expert eyes in the sky, and because you never know whether the war room will flip a coin or not) just hoping the call goes their way. I know that the coaches can't call for a review in OT or the final minute of a period...but imagine that Game 7 OT scenario, home team busting down the ice, score a goal, it's pandemonium because there's fans in the stands and everybody is going nuts....and the war room calls it in. Dude's skate was over the line. No goal. Good luck with that.

Late 3rd period, Game 7, home team down by a goal. They score. Ref on the calls goalie interference, no goal. Coach's Challenge. It's extremely marginal and depending on the angle, even debatable that the player even touches the goalie. From where the goal was scored, where the "contact" took place, with the eye test none of it makes it seem like the player impacted the goalie's ability to make the save. Everybody watching the play has seen far worse contact allowed/marginal calls upheld for interference. Call is upheld, 2 minutes for delay of game to the home team. Visitors score to extend the lead to 2 goals and run out the clock from there.

Just last night we saw something pretty similar to that latter scenario happen, and it impacted the game. Vegas down 1-0 mid-third period. Goal. Alex Tuch was at the very top of the crease, trying to get out of it / out of the way but was blocked in by the Wild defender. EXTREMELY LIGHT brush against Talbot, who didn't react to it but due to the very tight screen / brush, didn't react in time and the puck goes in the net. Ref on the ice calls goalie interference. Vegas challenges. Call upheld. Delay of Game. Wild score on the power play. Instead of a 1-1 game, it's now 2-0 Wild with only 10 minutes left in the 3rd. Wild win the game and force Game 7.

I gave up trying to understand the goalie interference rule ever since this was allowed. As Brian Wilde famously stated, Carey Price was dragged to Moose Jaw. Goal allowed. Brendan Gallagher so much farts in the direction of a goalie and it's waved off. Again, the guys making the calls to challenge the play think they see something. Oh yeah, clearly bumped him, that shouldn't count. Yet how often do we see the war room come up with a reason that *that* bump was acceptable? It's a coin flip, and that's why you see the challenge almost any time that anything happens. They're on a wing and a prayer. If the call goes their way, whew they dodged a bullet. If not, it's time to get ready to eat a fine after the game is over.